NASA Ames celebrates its 75th anniversary with an open house that attracts

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(Photo by Jacqueline Ramseyer/Bay Area News Group/Oct. 15, 2014)Closeup of the 20-G Centrifuge at NASA Ames Research Center. NASA Ames recently celebrated its 75th anniversary by hosting over 120,000 visitors at their open house on Oct. 18.

(Photo by Mayra Flores de Marcotte/Oct. 18, 2014)More than 120,000 visitors came out to NASA Ames' 75th Anniversary open house on Oct. 18 at Moffett Federal Airfield.

(Photo by Mayra Flores de Marcotte/Oct. 18, 2014)Adithya Pradeep, 9, goes for a ride in Ivor Dawson's TSM's Multi-Axis Simulator, also known as IBM or Ivor's Barf Machine, during NASA Ames' 75th Anniversary open house, held on Oct. 18 at Moffett Federal Airfield. Dawson is the founder/president of the Traveling Space Museum.

(Photo by Jacqueline Ramseyer/Bay Area News Group/Oct. 15, 2014)Sidney Sun, head of the Space Biosciences Division at NASA Ames Research Center, talks about mini greenhouse and rodent habitat experiments currently happening on the International Space Station. NASA Ames recently celebrated its 75th anniversary by hosting over 120,000 visitors at their open house on Oct. 18.

(Photo by Jacqueline Ramseyer/Bay Area News Group/Oct. 15, 2014)Dr. Sharmila Bhattacharya, chief scientist of astrobionics in the Space Bioscience branch at NASA Ames Research Center, talks about mini greenhouse and rodent habitat experiments currently happening on the International Space Station. NASA Ames recently celebrated its 75th anniversary by hosting over 120,000 visitors at their open house on Oct. 18.

(Photo by Jacqueline Ramseyer/Bay Area News Group/Oct. 15, 2014)Aerospace Engineer Daniel Morgan talks about the 20-G Centrifuge located at the NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Federal Airfield. The centrifuge is capable of producing forces up to 20 times of terrestrial gravity and is used to conduct research and training to solve problems related to the effects of acceleration on systems. NASA Ames recently celebrated its 75th anniversary by hosting over 120,000 visitors at their open house on Oct. 18.

NASA Ames, in celebration of its 75th anniversary, opened its doors to the public with an open house that offered unprecedented access to the facility grounds, the scientists who worked there and a chance to learn more about the science taking place there.

More than 150,000 visitors–both local and from all over the country–flocked to the now decommissioned U.S. Navy airfield.

“This was a real outreach and education opportunity for us to showcase to the public what we do; the amazing contributions that we make, both within space aeronautics and the sciences,” says Chuck Duff, director of center operations at NASA Ames Research Center.

People poured into Moffett Field on Oct. 18 for an opportunity that hadn’t been available for 17 years.

The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics broke ground at its current location on Dec. 20, 1939, and the center was named after Joseph Ames, the architect of aeronautical science. It was converted to a research facility in 1958 and became part of the new National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

“Ames contributes to every major mission in NASA aviation, from safety to developing the heat shield to allow any human space mission,” Duff says. “From supercomputing to discovering earth-like planets, there are so many cool things going on at Ames.”

Duff has been with Ames just shy of 20 years and says it was airplanes and spaceships that captured his heart at a young age. The same could be said of the hundreds of visitors lining up with their children for a chance to check out one of the several spacecraft simulations.

Others spent their time checking out the various Mars exploration equipment, like the blow-up Mars Curiosity Rover and smaller replicas of similar rovers.

Moshe Nativ and his daughter, Jenna, were checking out the virtual reality company Immersion Vrelia and taking a peek into what it would be like to see space from another angle.

“We came out because we wanted to see many of the inventions that they’re working on and learn what they are doing in the background,” Nativ says. “It’s great to see the inventors and things they’re working on.”

The benefit of Ames hosting these community open houses, however, goes beyond the opportunity to see the behind-the-scenes work, he says.

“It’s feeding into the national curiosity of the program, especially that of the youth,” Nativ says.

Mountain View resident Jonathan Herbach read about the event in the local paper and felt it could be a unique opportunity for his 2-year-old son.

“We used to have these opportunities with the Navy, being able to wander the property and especially see Hangar One.”

After reading about the open house online, Sunnyvale resident Breut Leroux and his daughter, Ella, came out to take a look as well.

“It really encourages the kids to be excited about the sciences,” Leroux says. “It gives a sense and taste for what’s available and what can be done.”

And the excitement stems both ways. Scientists and volunteers got a chance to share what they have been working on with an eager and curious public.

“I loved that many people had no idea that NASA was studying biology in space, but after talking to our researchers, they walked away with a new understanding of why biological research is important for NASA [to make spaceflight safer for the astronauts] and beneficial to people on Earth” in that researchers are exploring new biotechnologies that improve medical care, says Sidney Sun, chief of the space biosciences division.

“In addition, our life support research provides new technologies to recycle air, water and solid wastes in space and create renewable resources, an area of research that’s increasingly more important for life on Earth as well.”

Sun says that from the beginning of the event to the very end, he spent his time answering questions and talking about the programs taking place at NASA Ames.

“I loved talking with the kids that were at the open house,” he says. “They asked brilliant questions and showed great curiosity.”

One interaction in particular made a deep impression.

“I was particularly surprised and pleased when a 10-year-old girl, who is probably a future doctor or scientist, asked me about why bacteria become more virulent in space,” Sun says. “In my conversation with her, she demonstrated a graduate student’s understanding of biology, as I was amazed by how much she comprehended and wanted to learn more as I told her about the complex molecular biology mechanisms that were behind the changes.”

Highlighting STEM

Sun’s interactions, as well as the interactions of other scientists at the open house, were not accidental. A big part of the open house, Duff says, is to highlight the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics fields–or STEM.

“We are chartered to and want to continue to feed the pipeline in our country,” Duff says. “We want to promote those disciplines, which are vital in order to run an operation as complex as NASA.”

Everyone has heard about NASA, but isn’t always aware of what exactly they do and how they do it, says Cupertino resident Pradeep Kumar. He and his family attended the open house, and he was excited to learn more about the research center’s supercomputing applications while his son, 9-year-old Adithya Pradeep, was looking to experience some of the open house’s opportunities firsthand.

The Traveling Space Museum’s president, Ivor Dawson, was offering a demonstration of the Multi-Axis Simulator or as he called it, “Ivor’s Barf Machine.” Adithya was one of his brave volunteers.

The spinning inversion table anchored to a turntable is a throwback to the 1950s, when NASA scientists weren’t sure if gravity was necessary for swallowing and if disorientation in space would cause prolonged space sickness, says Sharon Lozano, public affairs specialist at Ames Research Center.

The Multi-Axis Simulator is just one of a dozen interactive simulators the Traveling Space Museum takes with it across the country. This, along with a quarter-scale F-117 Night Hawk motion simulator, a “recovered UFO,” a lunar rover, Space Shuttle toilet and hovercraft were all on display within the children’s section of the open house Oct. 18.

“These kids can have aspirations of being an astronaut after seeing all of this,” Kumar says.

There are a lot of benefits of having a public open house, says San Jose resident Alik Reyzblat, but above all else, it exposes children to the STEM fields.

Reyzblat brought his two daughters, Lian, 5, and Noa, 8, to the open house on Oct. 18. The trio spent some time at the homemade rocket booth and launched their creations, with the help of an empty plastic bottle and some human energy.

“I am here for them,” he says. “We will go see what they want to see and do what they want to do.”

Ames’ location within Silicon Valley adds to the desire to expose the multiple generations living here to the work that’s underway.

“The Bay Area has a high population of well-educated and forward-thinking people of all ages, who are willing to travel far and endure crazy traffic and long delays just to see what NASA Ames is doing,” Sun says. “It’s easy for them to grasp what we’re doing and see the exciting possibilities created by the research we’re doing in Space Biosciences and all of NASA Ames.”

“NASA’s research is funded by the American taxpayer, and this research is important for our country’s future,” he says. “The general public is very curious about the science performed at NASA, and recognizes that this research keeps the country in the forefront of space exploration, aeronautics and science.

“These open houses give the general public more visibility into this research, allows people to see their hard-earned tax dollars being put to good use, and can inspire the kids of today to become the scientists, engineers and astronauts we will need in the future.”